COMMENT: Hospital figures overshadow good economic news

THANK God it’s finally all over. The recession, that is, not our health crisis which continues to be a national scandal.

Last week we learned that Ireland’s lost decade, caused by the economic collapse, is now behind us and we can look forward to full employment by the end of next year.

But like all positive stories in Ireland, there was bad news just around the corner. In the same week, new figures showed that our health service is still a basket case, with hospital waiting lists reaching a new record of 687,000 people. So while you’ll have a greater chance of getting off the dole, just pray that you don’t get sick.

Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall didn’t waste time calling it as she saw it. And given her previous experience in the Department of Health as a junior minister, she probably knows better than most where the systemic failures lie.

“Providing a decent health service, where people can get timely treatment, on the basis of need, is a basic requirement of any civilised country,

? she said.

“Yet for people who depend on the public health system, things are getting progressively worse by the month.

?

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was criticised by Shortall, as was current Minister for Health, Simon Harris.

“There is little sense of urgency on the part of the Taoiseach or the Minister for Health about the fact that so many people are denied access to critical services, resulting in huge human suffering and distress, and in some cases, avoidable death,

? she added.

It’s hard to disagree with Shortall’s assertion that a

“stop-start

? approach to hospital waiting lists has failed dismally. She called for a fundamental reform of the way we provide healthcare and an end to the

“inefficient and inequitable

? two-tier system.

Anyone with experience of Irish hospitals knows that the standard of care and treatment is generally excellent

?? the problem is trying to access it through the public system. Those left languishing for months or even years on public waiting lists have a reduced quality of life, often for minor procedures that would make all the difference to them.

As for our Emergency Departments, they are often hostile, chaotic environments, particularly on weekends when the drunks stagger in with avoidable injuries caused by a night of excess. That is not to take from the efforts of hospital frontline staff who often have to treat the sick and injured under appalling circumstances.

When Leo Varadkar was appointed Minister for Health in 2014, I wrote at the time that it would be unreasonable for us to expect him to turn around the health service in the short to medium-term. However, his two-year tenure at the department should help inform him about what is wrong and – more importantly – what needs to be done to fix it. Given the latest stark figures, I would personally prefer to see our new Taoiseach focus more on health and less on Brexit.

Ireland may well have turned a corner in terms of the general economy. But when it comes to our health service, it seems we’re still stuck in the dark ages.